Whatever Ada Lovelace (1840s) programmed in (not
Ada) -- if she is the first
programmer, as everyone says, she
must have used the first programming
language, no? Again probably never
implemented - but did Babbage have
anything that could be called a
language?

Turing's description of
his Turing machine (1936 paper). In
the paper he actually writes
programs and simulates their
execution mathematically - that
makes it as good as (and earlier
than) PlanKalkül in my book.

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Please take a look at the FAQ. This question seems to require extended discussion so I'm downvoting it.
–
Onorio CatenacciSep 17 '08 at 17:04

If a question seems to require extended discussion, it should be made into a community post (which will be done automatically after the post-count reaches a certain number).
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apanditSep 17 '08 at 17:06

Also can be considered subjective - what counts as a programming language? Different countries have different views (for instance, see lightbulb and first airplane flight).
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Adam DavisSep 17 '08 at 17:07

scratch that... it happens when an answer or question is edited more than 5 times.. :\... see the unofficial faq.
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apanditSep 17 '08 at 17:10

I remember Connections (that was a great series). Though technically it was a BBC series that just got broadcast in the US by PBS.
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Chris UpchurchSep 17 '08 at 17:07

That is effectively a programming language, just not in the modern sense, however the term computer has changed over the last 20-30 years, so +1 for you.
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UnkwnTechSep 17 '08 at 17:07

Whether or not those qualify as programming languages depends on your definition. For mine, it's that the language is Turing-complete. I do not believe either qualify for that definition.
–
nsayerSep 17 '08 at 17:48

For there to be a category of "Turing Complete" programming languages, there must also be a category of "Not Turing Complete" programming languages, otherwise there would be no point to having "Turing Complete" as a category distinction, thus it can still be a programming language even if it is not turing complete.
–
BretonJan 11 '10 at 3:13

@Breton: not so. One could merely define "programming language" as "notation for encoding computations to be performed by a Turing-equivalent system".
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Derrick TurkMay 18 '10 at 14:04

<Laugh> I hope some day to meet the coder who wrote the first DNA app.
–
Onorio CatenacciSep 18 '08 at 18:16

i guess that's kind of a religious question. is DNA and its code really a programming language? and where is the programmer?
–
Johannes Schaub - litbJan 3 '09 at 19:22

Lets keep religion out of this. It is a philisophical question. I highly reccomend Godel Escher Bach, by Douglas Hofstadter if you want an in depth discussion about DNA as a programming language.
–
BretonJan 11 '10 at 3:15

Since Ada Lovelace is widely regarded as the first programmer, I'd investigate what she called the set of symbols she was using.

Update: You can read the notation that Lovelace used in her Notes on Sketch of The Analytical Engine Invented by Charles Babbage By L. F. MENABREA. Lovelace was the translator, but her notes describing the programming of the Analytical Engine ended up being about four times longer than the original publication.

Assuming a definition of "programming language" as "a textual notation used to describe/control the intended behavior of a digital computer", I think there's only one possible answer: raw (numerical) machine code.

Many of the other answers (e.g. recipes for cooking) are clever, but aren't about programming per se, but about description/control in a different context or more general sense.

The language the analytical engine would have used was its own machine code, entered via punch cards indicating the operation to be performed and the columns (effectively registers) to perform it to. See these notes for some details.

Programming, at least in the declarative sense, comes down to combinations of sequence, alternation, and repetition. One might consider recipe authors as programmers, and therefore very early ones. Think about a recipe: it contains sequence (slice this, then chop that, then heat so and so...), alternation (if you want it moist then bake for 40 minutes, else if you want it "cakey" bake for 55 minutes), and repetition (while not stiff kneed the dough, repeat stirring until the batter is smooth). Recipes go back thousands of years.